I was running out of creative ideas during a lull and I needed more compositions to practise my calligraphy. I wanted to kill two birds with a stone and a mental distraction during my two-hour jog on the same path again and again. Finally, a theme emerged about a story surrounding the death of Li Po - that he was drowned while trying to embrace the moon during one of his famous drunken bouts. It was said that he composed great works in that state.
Still, it took me two days to come out with something decent after the first line had been written down.
1杯舉邀迎嫦娥降 Raising a cup, I invited the Goddess of the Moon to come down,
1杯舉邀迎嫦娥降 Raising a cup, I invited the Goddess of the Moon to come down,
2垂青低眉船邊望 Favoured, I lowered my brows to look beyond the side of the boat.
3共同醉意夜一歡 Inebriated in togetherness for a night of fun,
4莫擁嬋娟知水寒 But embrace not the pretty girl to know that the water’s cold.
2 青 also means black. 青絲 (black threads silk i.e. black hair). The black here means the pupil of the eye. Later on, the eye radical was added i.e. 睛 so that it is more easily understood. Another example is 采 (not 釆!, a variant of 辨). The top component represents a claw and the bottom, a tree to mean “pluck/pick” etc. In later times, the hand radical was added for more clarity, 採. Due to simplification for the sake of writing more speedily, the hand radical was removed and 彩 is mapped onto it as well. This adds another level of greater complexity in understanding, as the character is no longer context free. As 睛 is not frequently used, the eye radical was not simplified away. This aspect of many-to-one correspondence is one of the two reasons I do not like using simplified characters. The other reason has to with the character’s aesthetic beauty. An example is the grass hand form of 東. It has graceful and flowing curves that can be written in one stroke but now has been squared to an ugly form of 东. I have no problem using 烟 (and my preferred way) for 煙 or 菸.
3共同醉意夜一歡 Inebriated in togetherness for a night of fun,
4莫擁嬋娟知水寒 But embrace not the pretty girl to know that the water’s cold.
2 青 also means black. 青絲 (black threads silk i.e. black hair). The black here means the pupil of the eye. Later on, the eye radical was added i.e. 睛 so that it is more easily understood. Another example is 采 (not 釆!, a variant of 辨). The top component represents a claw and the bottom, a tree to mean “pluck/pick” etc. In later times, the hand radical was added for more clarity, 採. Due to simplification for the sake of writing more speedily, the hand radical was removed and 彩 is mapped onto it as well. This adds another level of greater complexity in understanding, as the character is no longer context free. As 睛 is not frequently used, the eye radical was not simplified away. This aspect of many-to-one correspondence is one of the two reasons I do not like using simplified characters. The other reason has to with the character’s aesthetic beauty. An example is the grass hand form of 東. It has graceful and flowing curves that can be written in one stroke but now has been squared to an ugly form of 东. I have no problem using 烟 (and my preferred way) for 煙 or 菸.
4 There are many poetic forms for the moon, such as the jade rabbit, the three-legged toad, the silver mirror, the Grand Cold, lunar palace, etc. 嬋娟 is a personification who is approachable where 嫦娥 is the Goddess and unapproachable. 恒娥 is the original name of the goddess but her name clashes with the personal name of the Han Emperor Wen Ti, 劉恒 and the goddess had to be renamed.
Saturday, February 27, 2021
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